Toy backhoe



Sept. 14, 1965 T. H. zBlKowsKl TOY BACKHOE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. l0, 1965 INVENTOR. F/Eoookz Zal/(ausw FIEZE' FIE". .5'

#fram/ers Sept. 14, 1965 T. H. zBlKowsKl TOY BACKHOE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. l0, 1965 FIEL 7 .M @im TK Ll mw x mz df u l M uw mw 3,205,612 TOY BACKHQE Theodore H. Zbikowski, Fridley, Minn., assignor to Tonka Toys, `line., Mound, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed .lan. 10, 1963, Ser. No. 250,553 9 Claims. (Cl. 46-40) This invention relates to a new and improved construction for a scoop shovel or backhoe for mounting on toy vehicles, and particularly the mechanism for operating the same.

Toy manufacturers are constantly endeavoring to create and market toy products which are accurate miniaturizations of their industrial or commercial counterparts. A backhoe is a vehicle mounted implement used primarily for digging trenches or ditches. It is normally mounted at the rear end of a truck or tractor and comprises a main boom having one end pivoted to the vehicle and a bucket boom carrying a scoop bucket at one end and having its other end pivoted to the extended end of the main boom. In the operational cycle the booms are actuated from a raised, relatively folded condition to a raised extended condition moving the bucket to a far rear position behind the vehicle, then to an extended lowered position with the bucket engaging the ground, then to a folded lowered position with the bucket moving in scooping relation along the ground, and finally to the original raised folded condition.

The object of this invention is to provide a construction for a backhoe, scoop shovel or the like wherein a singular control means is adapted to move the ground engaging hoe or shovel between iixed positions along a circuitous path, that is, rearwardly over the ground, then downwardly into the ground, then forwardly filling the bucket with soil, and then upwardly to the starting position.

With this object in mind the invention broadly comprises a pair of booms interpivoted end to end, one boom pivoted on a vehicle mounting bracket and the other boom carrying a scoop bucket, a control means pivoted on the bracket and having connection with the bucket carryingy boom, said control means having a camming engagement with the vehicle mounted boom so as to move the booms successively through said extended and contracted conditions, hereinabove described.

The above mentioned and still additional objects of the invention will be brought to light during the course of the following specification, lreference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- FlG. 1 is a plan View of the backhoe in extended condition and shown mounted on a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the backhoe in the same condition as shown in FlG. l.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the backhoe in its relatively closed inoperative condition.

FIG. 4 is a section through the main boom taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation with the backhoe extended as in FIG. 2 with the main boom partially broken away.

FIG. 6 is a section through the main boom taken along line 6 6 of FIG. 7 and looking rearwardly as indicated by the arrows.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the backhoe in extended condition with the main boom released to place the bucket on the ground in digging position.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation of the backhoe in a relatively closed condition after the bucket has been moved forwardly in digging engagement with the ground.

FIG. 9 is an inverted plan View of the main boom and United States Patent O 3,205,612 Patented Sept. 14, 1965 ICC associated parts taken along line 9 9 of FIG. 7 and looking upwardly as indicated by the arrows.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of a portion of the main boom showing Various positions of the guide cam during operation.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings reference numerals will be used to denote like parts or structural features in the different views. In FIGS. 1 and 2 the backhoe is shown mounted at the rear end of a vehicle having body 14 mounted on ground wheels 15. The backhoe is mounted to extend rearwardly from the vehicle relative to the normal direction of forward vehicle travel.

A pair of vertically spaced mounting ears 16 are integrally secured to the central portion of the body 14. These ears have vertically aligned apertures. A mounting bracket, designated generally at i7, has vertically spaced ears 18 adapted to lie respectively above and below the upper and lower mounting ears 16. Ears 13 have apertures adapted to be aligned with those in ears 16 for the reception of a pivot pin 19 for swinging of the bracket 17 on a vertical axis through an arc of approximately one hundred eighty degrees.

The bracket 17 has a front wall 20 and a pair of transversely spaced side walls 21 extending rearwardly from the front wall. The Walls 21 are provided with outwardly extending flanges Z2 along their upper edges.

An elongated inner or main boom, designated generally at Z4, has the t'orm of a downwardly opening channel with side walls 25 connected by a top wall 26. The walls 25 have downward extension ears 27 at their rear ends which are journaled on a pin 2S extending horizontally between th eside walls 21 of bracket i7. Boom Z4 is accordingly swingable in an up and down direction about the axis of pin 2S. The top wall 26 of boom 2li is provided with a longitudinally extending slot opening 29, best shown in FIG. l.

A control lever 30 having a handle portion 31 at its upper end extends downwardly through the sl-ot 29 and has its lower end pivoted on the pin 32 which extends between the walls 2l. to the rear of pin 28. Lever 30 is accordingly swingable in a fore and aft direction about the pin 32.

An elongated outer or bucket boom 34, which is also channel-shaped in cross section with a top wall 35 connecting side walls 36, has one end pivoted as by pin 37 to the front end of main boom 24 for raising and lower- -ing movement about a horizontal axis. At the forward end of boom 34 the side walls 36 are formed to diverge outwardly from each other, then forwardly as at 38, with the forward end thereof turned inwardly in alignment as at 39.

A scoop bucket, denoted generally at di), has side walls 41, a bottom wall 42 and a rear wall 44. The side walls have aligned apertures 45 near the lower front corners of the bucket for receiving the projections 39 for tilting movement of the bucket thereabout. The side walls 4l. are also each provided with lateral projections 46 and 47 disposed respectively rearwardly and forwardly of the arms 38 and extending therebeyond to limit tilting movement of the bucket about the axis 39. The bottom wall 42 of the bucket may be provided with forwardly projecting tines 48 to aid in the digging operation of the bucket to be shortly described.

An elongated link 50 extending generally parallel to the boom 24 and therebelow has its forward end pivoted as at 51 to the bucket boom 34, the latter pivot being located just inwardly on the boom from pivot 37. It will Vaccordingly be understood that as control 30 is swung rearwardly about pivot 32, the link 5i? will cause the bucket boom 34 to be extended to the position shown in FIG. 2. Conversely, forward movement of the control will swing the bucket boom forwardly toward a relatively closed position with respect to the main boom such as shown in FIG. 3.

The cooperative action between the main boom 24 and link 50 to cause simultaneous raising and lowering of the main boom and extension and retraction of the bucket boom through the operation of only one control will now be described in detail. Link 50 which moves within the channel of boom 24 is provided with a laterally projecting control finger or stop 54 which engages under the lower edge portion 55 of the adjacent main boom side wall 25 to limit downward movement of said boom about -pivot 28. Edge 55 is at the lower edge of a generally rectangular outwardly bulged section 56 in the wall 25. This bulged section or relief 56 can best -be observed in FIGS. 4, 6, and 9. At the rear end of edge portion 55 the bulge section 56 extends downwardly as at 57 leaving a forwardly directed opening 58 into the relief. The outer wall of the bulge or relief section 56 above the lower edge 55 lies outside the lateral limit of the stop 54.

The operation of the backhoe by the control means comprising lever 3f), stop 54 and relief 56 will now be explained. In normal inoperative position the backhoe is in the raised folded condition shown in FIG. 4. As control 3d is manually swung rearwardly about pivot 32, the stop 54 will be moved along edge 55, extending the bucket boom 34 until the backhoe reaches its raised extended condition shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Toward the end of such movement the center of weight of the bucket 40 will move forward of the pivot at 39 causing the bucket to tilt forwardly with the stops 46 resting against arms 38. It will also be understood that as the stop S4 is moved rearwardly, the angle between a line through the stop and pivot 28 and the horizontal will be decreasedl cans-ing the boom 24 to lower.

After the backhoe has reached the raised extended condition shown in FIG. 5, continued rearward movement of control 30 will cause the stop 54 to move p-ast the edge 55 and into the opening 58. As this happens the main boom 24- will be released by the stop allowing the backhoe to fall to the lowered extended position shown in FIG. 7. In this condition the stop has moved to the upper right position within the bulge section 56 as shown in FIG. 10.

The bucket has n-ow been lowered into digging rerelation with the ground (FIG. 7). As control 30 is then moved forwardly about its pivot at 32, the boom 34 and lbucket 40, connected to the control by link 50, will be swung forwardly about pivot 37 to the lowered contracted condition shown in FIG. 8. During this action the bucket will scoop up portions of the ground material. At the same time the stop 54 will move forwardly inside of bulge sect-ion 56 to the position at the upper left in FIG. 10.

With continued forward movement of control 30 from the position of FIG. 8, the leverages between the control, boom 24 and link 5t) will cause the boom to raise about pivot 28 tow-ard the collapsed raised condition shown in FIG. 3. As this occurs stop 54 will move relatively downward along the fron-t of the bulge section 56, and distend the wall 2S to snap under the edge S5 again, thus coming to rest at the original position shown at the lower left in FIG. l0. During this movement the booms 24 and 34 and bucket 40 will be raised so that the backhoe is again in the raised folded condition shown in FIG. 3.

It will be understood that dir-t picked up in the bucket 40 during the digging step will be dumped as the backhoe reaches its next succeeding raised extended condition, shown in FIG. 5.

The control mechanism comprising lever 30, link 50, stop 54 and the bulge section 56 and the cooperative relation therebetween thus provides a simple singular means for folding the booms about pivot 37 between their various relatively extended and contracted conditions and moving the bucket in the desired circuitous path.

The device is simple, durable and easy to operate. The backhoe 4construction accordingly economically and effectively carries out the aforementioned objectives.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and describedmy inventiomkwhat I claim to be new and desire to protect by Let-ters Patent is':

1. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a'vehicle and including inner and outer elongated booms interpivoted end to end, a bracket for mounting on the vehicle, the ends of the inner and outer booms remote from their interpivot respectively pivoted to the bracket and carrying a scoop bucket, the inner boom having a longitudinal slot therein between the boom pivots and opening vertically, a control lever pivoted to the bracket and extending upwardly through said boom slot, an elongated link having its ends respectively pivoted to the lever below the slot and to the outer boom adjacent the boom interpivot, all of said pivots having parallel horizontal axes whereby as the lever is moved in back and forth directions in the slot the booms will be relatively extended and contracted about their interpivot, the inner boom having means forming a track in one side Wall thereof, and a guide finger integrally mounted on the link and riding in said track to also cause the inner boom to swing about its bracket pivot as the lever is operated.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said track is circuitous causing the bucket to move in a circuitous earth scooping and raising path as the lever is moved outwardly away from the vehicle and then inwardly toward the vehicle.

3. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a Vehicle;

(a) an elongated main boom pivotally mounted on a vehicle for rotational movement in a vertically disposed plane;

(b) an elongated bucket boom, including a single axis at one end, and being pivotally mounted to the movable end of the main boom at its other end for rotational movement about the movable end of said main boom in said vertical plane;

(c) a control lever pivoted to the mounting bracket;

(d) a rigid link having one end pivoted to said control lever and the other end pivoted to said bucket boom intermediate the ends thereof;

(e) a one way camming tra'ck means disposed on the side of said main boom, said track means including first and second guideways disposed vertically with respect to the longitudinal axis of said main boom, the lowermost of said guideways having a discontinuity at the end remote from said vehicle and being resiliently laterally displaceable at the end closest to said vehicle, and

(f) a laterally extending cam track following lug on said rigid link, said lug being operable upon movement of said control lever to successively and circuitously engage the lowermost and uppermost guideways in said camming track as said control lever is moved forwardly from a folded position of said booms to an extended position and then rearwardly to said folded position.

4. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a vehicle, first and second elongated booms having their adjacent ends pivotally interconnected for relative extending and contracting movement between the booms, means for pivotally connecting the extended end of the rst boom to a vehicle, a lever control pivoted to said pivotal connecting means, said control lever extending through said first vboom and having a camming engagement with the first boom for raising and lowering said boom, and a rigid link connecting the |control lever to the second boom for imparting said relative extending and contracting movement to the booms whereby said control lever is rotated less than about its pivot for each complete cycle of extension and contraction of said booms relative to each other.

5. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a vehicle, a mounting bracket, an inner and an outer boom pivotally interconnected for relative folding movement between the folded and extended conditions, a bucket mounted on the outer boom, the inner boom pivoted to the mounting bracket, a control lever pivoted to the mounting bracket, a rigid link member having its ends respectively pivoted to the control lever and the outer boom whereby said lever may be manipulated to cause said relative folding movement between the booms, and means, including a laterally extending lug on the link and a camming surface 0n the side of the boom, said camming surface in cluding at least a pair of longitudinally extending portions adapted to ycoact with said lug, acting between the link `and inner boom for controlling the movement of the inner boom about its pivotal connection with the bracket.

6. A toy backhoe comprising a mounting bracket, a main boom having one end pivoted to the bracket, a bucket boom having one end pivoted to the other end of the main boom, a scoop bucket mounted on the other end of the bucket boom, a control means for moving the bucket boom about its connection with the main boom including a cam follower means, a lever pivoted on the bracket and a rigid link connecting the lever to the bucket boom, and cam means including a pair of parallel longitudinally extending camming surfaces for slidably engaging the cam follower means on the control means for moving the main boom about its pivot to the bracket as the control means is operated to move the bucket boom.

7. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a vehicle and including inner and outer elongated booms interpivoted end to end, the inner boom having its extended end pivoted to the vehicle and including a guide means having two parallel surfaces vertically disposed and extending longitudinally thereof, a bucket disposed on the extended end of the outer boom, and a control means including a lever pivoted to the vehicle and having connection with the outer boom for relatively spreading and closing the booms about their interpivot, said control means having a projection operable to engage the guide means on the inner boom to move said boom about its vehicle pivot as the booms are relatively spread'and closed by the control means whereby the projection on said control means is operative to engage one of said surfaces on the guide means on relative movement in one direction and to engage the other of said surfaces on relative movement in another direction to thereby characterize the attitude of the inner boom with respect to its pivot according to the direction of relative movement of the inner and outer booms.

8. In a toy backhoe for mounting on a vehicle and including inner and outer elongated booms interpivoted end to end, the outer boom carrying a bucket at its extended end and the inner boom having its extended end pivoted to the vehicle, and a control means including a lever pivoted to the vehicle yand extending through said inner boom and having connection with the outer boom for relatively spreading and closing the booms about their interpivot, and said control means having movable connection with the inner boom to move said boom about its vehicle pivot as the booms are relatively spread and closed by the control means.

9. A toy backhoe comprising a mounting bracket, a

main boom having one end pivoted to the bracket, a

bucket boom having one end pivoted to the other end of the main boom, a :scoop bucket mounted on the other end of the bucket boom, `a control means for moving the bucket boom about its connection with the main boom including a lever pivoted on the bracket and a rigid link including a stationary laterally extending cam follower, connecting the lever to the bucket boom, and cam means on the main boom including a pair of Vertically disposed guideways extending longitudinally of the main boom, said main boom being comprised of deformable material at least at the end of the lowermost of said guideways whereby the cam follower of the rigid link is operative to engage said cam means for moving the main boom about its pivot to the bracket as the control means is operated to move the bucket boom.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A TOY BACKHOE FOR MOUNTING ON A VEHICLE AND INCLUDING INNER AND OUTER ELONGATED BOOMS INTERPIVOTED END TO END, A BRACKET FOR MOUNTING ON THE VEHICLE, THE ENDS OF THE INNER AND OUTER BOOMS REMOTE FROM THEIR INTERPIVOT RESPECTIVELY PIVOTED TO THE BRACKET AND CARRYING A SCOOP BUCKET, THE INNER BOOM HAVING A LONGITUDINAL SLOT THEREIN BETWEEN THE BOOM PIOTS AND OPENING VERTICALLY, A CONTROL LEVER PIVOTED TO THE BRACKET AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID BOOM SLOT, AN ELONGATED LINK HAVING ITS ENDS RESPECTIVELY PIVOTED TO THE LEVER BELOW 